Should I switch to cleans if I've already started with rows?

[Barnebus Frey]

I'm about 3 months into my novice linear progression but have been doing rows instead of cleans. Now that I've found out that it would have been better to do cleans, should I switch to cleans (and have that exercise be behind all of the others) or continue with rows? Thanks

[Mark Rippetoe]

If you switch to cleans now, you will rupture several important tendons in your hands, arms, knees, and feet. Sorry, but it looks like your trapped.

[Squatowski]

I'm about 3 months into my novice linear progression but have been doing rows instead of cleans. Now that I've found out that it would have been better to do cleans, should I switch to cleans (and have that exercise be behind all of the others) or continue with rows? Thanks

I was in the same situation, since I discovered SS after I already started training with a routine from one Belgian guy So I just added the cleans at the end of workout A (the one without the deadlift) and contiuned with the rows. Can't see any harm in that.

[Barnebus Frey]

If you switch to cleans now, you will rupture several important tendons in your hands, arms, knees, and feet. Sorry, but it looks like your trapped.

I did wonder whether this was a stupid question. But I'm still unsure whether training the clean over the row is beneficial enough to deal with the complications of having 1 lift be 3 months behind (and so probably hit an intermediate level before the others).

[Mark Rippetoe]

Much better to leave the power clean weak forever. Don't clean. Really.

[Tamara Reynolds]

But I'm still unsure whether training the clean over the row is beneficial enough to deal with the complications of having 1 lift be 3 months behind (and so probably hit an intermediate level before the others).

Read this aloud to yourself ten or twenty times. If it still seems like a reasonable sentence, then I hereby prohibit you from ever lifting a barbell again. If it seems like you could have thought more carefully before typing, then don't type again until you learn how to power clean.

[elVarouza]

A weaker lift will eventually catch up. What's one month out of years and years of training?

[Paul1]

I did wonder whether this was a stupid question. But I'm still unsure whether training the clean over the row is beneficial enough to deal with the complications of having 1 lift be 3 months behind (and so probably hit an intermediate level before the others).

In my own case, my squat, press, power clean, and deadlift were about a year behind my bench press and chinups. The other lifts have caught up -- and actually, since they were programmed better than my bench ever has been, my bench stalled way before the others.

Next, the power clean isn't a purely 'strength' lift. It demands a lot of coordination. I think it may even be BETTER that it is behind a little, because that way you can work on technique with lighter weights, then start making progress for quite a while before strength becomes a limiting factor.

Finally, what are you doing that is going to substitute for the clean? The row is a different movement. The row and the chinup have a lot of overlap. The clean and the row don't.

[Dave Longley]

In the Shane Hamman interview, he mentions starting the Olympic lifts with a broom handle. Do you think he thought, "I squat 1000lbs! This is bullshit!"?

Everyone has to start light at something new. Just suck it up and enjoy the process of learning.

[Amazing]

Darn that Mehdi bastard at stronglifts. >